Overview

We focus on the New Jersey Community Solar Energy Program (CSEP) market. New Jersey residents are served by a variety of electric utilities, seen below:

For the CSEP program, both geo- and LMI verifications are allowed.

Geoqualification

The New Jersey CSEP program allows for geoqualification. Residents must reside within a census block group in which 80 percent or more of the households earn less than 80 percent of the area median income, as determined by data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The below map shows the distribution of these households as defined by HUD:

The table below shows that New Jersey has relatively limited geoqualification, less than 10% of the state population resides within a qualified census block group.

When broken down by utility zone, we see most of the customers who are geoqualified reside within PSEG:

LMI Qualificaiton

Self-attestation by the customer that their household income is less than 80 percent of the area median income, as determined by data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, provided on a standard form to be approved by the Board and signed by the customer and recorded through an authorized administrator procured by the EDCs

We use HUD data that summarizes the total number of households living at or under 80% AMI. This is the total LMI addressable market in New Jersey that could be determined via self-attestation.

LIFT Solar

There are 145 community solar projects in New Jersey according to the LIFT solar database.